1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a three-dimensional ultrasonic inspection technology for non-destructively inspecting an internal structure of an inspection object (object to be inspected), a defect state (defective) and a joined state by using ultrasonic wave, and more particularly, to a portable ultrasonic inspection apparatus and an ultrasonic probe used for the ultrasonic inspection apparatus for visualizing defect, exfoliation, void in an inspection object and a peel of the joined portion.
2. Related Art
As the ultrasonic inspection technique of this kind, there is known a three-dimensional ultrasonic inspection apparatus disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2003-149213 (Patent Publication 1) and 2004-53360 (Patent Publication 2).
The three-dimensional ultrasonic inspection apparatus includes an ultrasonic transducer in which a large number of piezoelectric elements (piezoelectric elements) are arranged on a plane in a matrix or array (linear) arrangement. The three-dimensional ultrasonic inspection apparatus three-dimensionally visualizes an internal structure of an inspection object, or states of defect, void, oxide film, peel and the like by using ultrasonic wave which is transmitted from or received to the ultrasonic transducer to and from an inspection object, and inspects the inspection object non-destructively (in a non-destructive manner).
According to the three-dimensional ultrasonic inspection apparatus using the ultrasonic transducer having the many piezoelectric elements, it is possible to visualize a layer structure of an inspection object having a plurality of acoustic features, and states of defect, void, peel and the like in the inspection object by means of ultrasonic wave, but imaging results become nonuniform in accordance with transmitting and receiving patterns of ultrasonic wave in three-dimensional imaging data obtained by processing a received echo signal of the ultrasonic transducer, it becomes difficult to precisely and quantitatively determine whether quality of inspection object is excellent or not, and it is necessary to visually determine the inspection result. The results are varied due to differences among individuals.
A conventional ultrasonic inspection apparatus uses an ultrasonic transducer having a piezoelectric converter in which a large number of piezoelectric elements are disposed. However, when internal inspection of an inspection object is to be carried out while moving the ultrasonic transducer for scanning, the ultrasonic inspection apparatus does not have a moving amount detection device for detecting a moving amount of the ultrasonic transducer, and in order to detect a moving amount of the ultrasonic transducer, it is necessary to separately and independently provide a large-scale moving amount detection device such as an X-Y table having a position detector therein.
Therefore, it is difficult to make the ultrasonic inspection apparatus portable and to effectively and precisely inspect an internal state of an inspection object by using ultrasonic wave at a field or site of manufacturing procedure.
Even when the ultrasonic inspection apparatus is provided with the large-scale moving amount detection device such as the X-Y table, there is a limitation in a scanning range of the ultrasonic transducer in which the piezoelectric elements are arranged in the form of a matrix or array, and if the inspection object has a curved shape or a large portion having a wide area, it is difficult to efficiently and effectively inspect the inspection object by using ultrasonic wave.